Where The Watermelons Grow

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of mental illness, children in emotional distress, and discussions of mental illness inheritance.

“I closed my eyes, trying to forget all about those watermelon seeds, all about Mama yelling and acting worse than she had in a long, long time, wishing there was anything in the world that could pull Mama’s brain back together like the skin on Grandpa’s leg.”

After discovering Mama at the kitchen table after midnight, digging the seeds out of a watermelon because she believes they’ll hurt the girls, Della struggles to get this image out of her head. Della has just told Mylie the story of Grandpa’s leg being healed by the Bee Lady’s honey. This moment foreshadows Della’s plans to try to cure Mama and establishes the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how haunted Della is by the scene with the watermelon.

“Your mama’s always going to have good days and bad days, and we’ll get through them the way we always have. Together, as a family.”

Della recalls what Daddy has told her about Mama’s illness and the way they’ll get through it together. This quote develops the themes of The Importance of Love and Acceptance as well as The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how Daddy and the family must adapt to Mama’s illness with the only tools they have: love, patience, and acceptance.

“Sometimes, if I talked too much about Mama and her hard times, that was all people asked about—they’d look at us and see a sad family with big problems.”

Della explains why she doesn’t talk about Mama as much as she’d like to, sometimes keeping Mama’s condition a secret from the other adults in town as well as her best friend Arden. Della worries that talking about Mama will change the way people see her and her family, initiating her gradual isolation.